fried rice with chicken

I’m not going to lie to you. It’s been a bit of a tough January. I’m with everyone else as far as the beginning of January goes…I love the fresh start of a new year and I love the slow down after the busy season of Christmas. But now that it’s the third week of January I am over it and am ready for Spring. Add that to Evelyn having an 18 month nap regression, the garbage/mail/recycling truck always coming to wake her up 20 minutes after I put her down for a nap no matter what time of day I put her down (1. how do they all know?!? do they coordinate it?!? and 2. why is she suddenly such a light napper?), the darkness of winter, and some rotten situations happening to people we know and I just feel…tired.

Easy dinners (and meal planning) have been my savior this month and this is another one. It’s a one dish meal that has protein, starch, and vegetable all inside. We love this meal (and so far Evelyn does, too…although that might change next week). And even though it takes awhile to cook the chicken, it’s mostly hands off time; once you’re ready to cook everything, it takes about 15 minutes to put it all together.

This is a fantastic one dish meal. Although I've included instructions for cooking chicken, using leftover rotisserie chicken is a great option here that will cut the prep time for this dish in more than half (the biggest chunk of prep time here is the chicken baking). Also, use whatever rice you prefer, but I really think brown rice is the best here. Not only is it healthier, but it also feels heartier and the nutty flavor goes wonderfully with everything else.

Ingredients

3 boneless skinless chicken thighs

Olive oil

Kosher salt

Pepper

1 cup frozen edamame

1/4 cup vegetable or canola oil

3 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces

4 cups leftover rice

2 eggs

2-3 tablespoons (or more) low sodium soy sauce

Instructions

To begin, bake your chicken. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place the chicken in a baking dish, drizzle with olive oil and spread it around all sides of the chicken, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Put just a bit of water in the bottom of your baking dish. Bake for 40 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through. Remove from oven and let cool. Once it is cool enough to handle, cut into 1/2 inch chunks.

To prepare the edamame bring a medium sized pot of water to a boil. Add the edamame and cook for about 4 minutes. Then drain and set aside.

In a large saute pan, heat the vegetable oil over medium high heat. Add the carrots and saute 6-7 minutes, stirring frequently, until tender and some edges are golden brown.

Increase the heat just a bit higher, and add the rice in one even layer, making sure you break up any clumps that have stuck together. Stir to make sure the rice is evenly frying, just a couple of minutes.

Scoot some of the rice to the edge of the pan and add the eggs to the pan. Then stir the rice into the eggs, so that the eggs begin to coat the rice as they cook.

Stir in the cooked chicken, cooked edamame and the soy sauce. Serve warm or at room temperature.